Hello, North Island!
Cuba?
And yea, this just happened then
Civic district at night, resembling our Clarke Quay really
And once again, the cafes here impressed (just that the stupid law of requiring everyone present to show their ID whenever we want to purchase liquor is irritating).
Splendid (not, the Apple-alike thingy was oddly bitter). And happy birthday to myself! Haha. Note: other food was not too shabby.
Went back to our van after a rather full dinner; wanted to watch LOTR2 but the sound was too soft. Watched Inside Out instead, but only half an episode because we were all too damn tired...
Woke up earlier than the rest (cos, well, the would-be couple was talking through the night once again) and felt like I needed to shit; decided to brave the cold and take a jog to the civic district. Turns out, toilet doesn't open in the morning so I went back and took a quick dump in the van before braving another cold, this time in the form of an ice cold bath.
And this is the reward right after. Then off we go!
Found the old shoreline along the way and it was quite a distance from the current one. Though I think it's nothing compared to Singapore haha
Headed to the Te Papa Museum - the national museum of NZ, and learnt the following:
- Land of the Long white cloud = Aotearoa (NZ's name in Maori language)
- Precious things of Mother Earth = Te Papa
- Access door = Waharoa; they are the "metal detector" of the past, according to the cheeky guide haha
- Tongue in the middle of the Waharoa = a challenge
- Tongue at the side = welcome but behave
- God of earthquake = the unborn child of Mother Earth
Spot the tongue in the middle pointing sideways. And yep, this is the "security scanner". It's really small though. Probably only Ms Blur can pass through with some effort
And the most interesting of them all:
- Maori people, as with other Polynesians, originated from Taiwan! Related to Taiwanese aboriginal. Even all the way to Peru, there are links!
That's the God of Earthquake that caused the recent Christchurch disaster
And wow, olden day patterns on the glass panels plus the sunlight behind = amazing effect!
There's also the natural side of the museum where we met this baby whale (I think it's also a smaller breed, the pigmy whale)
And there's also this largest squid ever found (in the world?) pretty huge but I'm still disappointed somehow
Geographer in me got triggered pretty frequently on this trip haha
And there's also this exhibition with super huge figurines of soldiers, talking about Anzac's involvement in WWII. And this is what was communicated between the Allied and Axis forces few years after the war. Fucking war turning brothers against each other..
And I think this city is one that amaze in the day. Night was meh
Bean bags in the middle of the civic district on a weekend! And yea, you need the sun lest you freeze to death haha. Missing the weather~
Left Wellington after Te Papa museum and decided to skip Zealandia in view of a lack of time. Rushed down to a town near Tongariro, Waiouru, to stay for the night. Reached the national army museum to camp for the night and started cooking dinner...
